User blog:MrMunkeepants/Kallistus Freajen - 13th of Snow, 1616 RA
We tried not to rush down the mountain, both for safety in the snowy paths and in case there was danger hidden at the bottom, but the locals who were travelling with us were distraught and kept our pace brisk. It still took us nearly the whole day. We found Villa Pastoris empty and several houses either smoldering or burned out. Tertius' raven scouted the town for us; many houses had evidence of being broken into and blood in the bedrooms. It is likely that the townspeople were killed in their sleep, a small mercy; the bodies had all been moved to town hall. One of the villagers cried out at the news as Tertius related it, and ran to his home, then the hall when he found it empty. We followed, luckily finding no evidence of the attackers. The human victims were arranged in rows in the assembly room, and the dwarves were hanging from the rafters, mutliated in the same way we have seen previously. We took shelter in the constabulary, since we were familiar with it and it was a securable building. The bandit we had brought was still in his cell; he told us what he had heard of the conflict the night before, but had seen nothing. I took the first watch that night, and soon after mid-night saw a cloaked figure approaching down the street. It stopped at the doors to the town hall, which had not latched behind us earlier; it tested the doors, and seeing that they held when closed, began to retreat. By the time I reached my companions downstairs, roused them, and told them what I had seen, it was long gone. We fortified the building in case it returned with backup. Several figures appeared later, checking all the doors on the street; we prepared an ambush for when they reached the building we were in. Beoven was by the door and gasped as one of the figures peeked in the window (which Tertius had spelled up to hide us); as the door opened, he pulled the figure in, closing the door behind him. "Norbu," he exclaimed, and asked the man what had happened; this was one of the locals who had ascended the mountain with him and the Ironforges! We all noticed that this Norbu bore wounds that would have killed a normal man, but was still walking around; he seemed to be shocked as well, but noticing us in the room he growled and attacked. We all struck back at the undead thing he had become, but the other figures had noticed his absence and were soon beating on the door. Just after smashing him, a second figure burst through the door - it was Mirantz! Her limbs were wrapped, but her face bore the same black decay that her husband and daughter's bodies had. She attacked like a crazy person, but only a wet rasp passed her lips. As we fended her off, one of the shorter figures opened the door and spoke in a language none of us recognized; Beoven straightened and turned on Yama Bya! Mirantz was knocked down with a blow that would have killed a living human, but the mysterious fourth figure (another shortish one) outside spoke and she rose up to attack us again. Yama Bya dodged a swing of Beoven's sword and punched her in the face, caving in her skull... a move I would never believe if I hadn't seen it. Rabden ran out to attack the dwarf who had taken control of Beoven, but was nearly cut in half by the second dwarf's greatsword swing. Tertius and I went out to assist him, though he was nearly beyond help; while the wizard distracted the dwarves I poured a healing potion into him. The dwarves retreated, though it wasn't because we were too much of a threat; the simply seemed bored with the fight. They faded into the mist, one's laughter ringing in the empty streets. We all remembered Beoven and Yama Bya at the same time; we dashed into the constabulary to find he had the monk on the ground and was snapping at his face, though it was obvious he was not in control of himself. Rabden and I subdued him, threw him in a cell, and removed his weapons and armor. When the armor came off the illusion ended and we could see it was seriously damaged; under his clothing Beoven's "minor scratch" was a festering hole, with black veining and the flesh of his torso turning grey. We were in shock, and before I could think Terius cast fireball and burned Beoven to a crisp. I tried to stop him, but he insisted there was no hope of saving our companion. We considered what to do with the bodies of the residents of Villa Pastoris; would any of them rise from the dead? Should we burn the town hall to ensure none could? Yama Bya made it clear he would not allow us to do so; his order would perform their rights, and take care of any threats that might emerge. We decided that news of the dead being raised and controlled by a dwarven nationalist death cult reaching the emperor was most important. We depart for Viridium tomorrow. Category:Blog posts